Home » Book Reviews » Page 5

Category: Book Reviews

What Makes A Good Book Review?

Following on from my post last week about getting book reviews on Amazon, I thought I’d address a related question: What makes a good book review?

Looking at Amazon, it appears that a lot of authors automatically consider a five-star review to be good and a three-star or lower review to be bad. I disagree. As a reader, a bad review is one that doesn’t give me enough information to make a decision, regardless of the rating. Here are some examples of bad reviews:

I love this book! Even better than Twilight!! Smith is the best author EVA!!! and I could just swoon over Jamie all day!!!!

This book was okay. Amazon makes me write at least twenty words for a review so now I’m done. Yay.

Reviews are for readers.

The objective of a review is to help a potential reader decide whether or not they will like a particular book. Should they spend their hard-earned money buying this book? Is it worth their time to read? My time is valuable. I don’t want to waste hours reading a bad book, even a free book, when I could have been doing something more enjoyable (like scrubbing the toilet, or better still, reading a good book).

Over the years I have come to the conclusion that there are five main aspects that contribute to my enjoyment of a book, and these are the questions I try to address when I write a review:

  • Plot: Does the plot make sense? Is it exciting? Romantic? Do the sub-plots add to the overall story? Is it believable? Is it original, or do I feel I’ve read it before?
  • Characters: Do I like the characters? Are they people I’d want to know and spend time with in real life? Or are they too-stupid-to-live clichés?
  • Genre: Does the book conform to the expectations of the genre? If it’s Christian fiction, does the protagonist show clear progression in their Christian walk? If it’s romance, is there an emotionally satisfying ending? If it’s fantasy or science fiction, has the author succeeded in convincing me the world they have created is real?
  • Writing and editing: With many books, especially those from small publishers or self-published authors problems with the writing or editing take me out of the story (like a heroin wearing a high-wasted dress). Bad writing or insufficient editing makes a book memorable for all the wrong reasons.
  • The Wow! Factor: Some books, very few, have that extra something that makes them memorable for the right reasons. The Wow! factor is usually a combination of a unique plot and setting, likeable and intelligent characters (I loathe stupid characters), and a distinct and readable writing style, or ‘voice’.  This is highly subjective and other readers might not agree with my taste. And that’s okay.

Some reviewers, especially Christian reviewers, are of the view that “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”. I disagree. That doesn’t mean I’m going to be cruel, but it does mean I’m going to be honest. Reviews are for readers, and readers deserve honest reviews. They want to know whether a book is worth their money and time—or not.

It’s hard to write a less-than-glowing review. It’s much easier to write a four-star ‘I liked it’ review (and even easier to write a five-star ‘I loved it’ rave). I wish I could write more five-star raves, but a lot of books are missing that Wow! factor, that originality that takes them from a four-star like to a five-star rave.

I will, on rare occasions, not publish a critical review—usually when another review already covers all the points I was going to make. But I publish reviews for around 75% of the books I read—and over 95% of the books I accept as review copies (because this is a condition of accepting a review title with most online book blogger review programmes). If I accept your book for review, I will review it. I might take a while and you might not like the review, but I will read it, and I will review it.

Critical reviews are especially hard to write if the book is from a lesser-known author with fewer reviews. I don’t enjoy writing a review saying a book was full of cliché characters, a predictable plot and editing errors. It’s not my fault I’m the first person to notice a book refers to Barnaby’s Star when it’s actually Barnard’s Star (true story. The author said even his NASA beta-reader didn’t pick that up).

Reviews are not book reports or a critique. They are not a way for authors to get free feedback on the quality of their writing. If you want feedback on your writing, ask an objective reader, find a critique partner, get a free critique through a writing organisation, or get a paid critique from an editor. I provide manuscript assessments as part of my editing services. They are far more detailed than my reviews, and provide concrete advice in how to rectify the weaknesses. I can’t do that in a short online review.

Because reviews are for readers.

 

Book Review: How to Get Good Reviews on Amazon

This is one of those times when I’d like Amazon to have half stars. This is better than 4 – “I liked it”, but I try to reserve 5 “I loved it” to books that are outstanding. I really liked this short guide—it’s a solid 4 ½ stars, but to be outstanding it would have needed to venture outside Amazon. I’d like to have written it myself, but never mind.

Theo Rogers has written a solid summary of Amazon reviewing—an introduction to what motivates people to review, the main methods authors can use in selecting appropriate Amazon reviewers, and advice on approaching reviewers. There is also valuable guidance on the ins and outs of Amazon to help ensure authors don’t get stuck in the minefields of Amazon.

None of this is new information. Any author could learn this by spending a few months lurking in the Amazon discussion forums. But that’s time that could be spent writing—so why not save yourself a few hundred hours and buy this instead? Read it and apply the principles (while Rogers doesn’t mention reader sites like Goodreads or other retail sites, my experience suggests most of the same principles hold true).

I would suggest one correction: Rogers comments on the number of reviews of self-published books that say the book was in desperate need of professional editing and proofreading. I’ve made similar comments myself, and in some cases the author has responded that the book was professionally edited.

If so, I’d prefer their books were competently edited, as it seems that how much an author pays for editing doesn’t necessarily translate into a quality product. In fairness to my editing colleagues, I’d also say that some self-published authors are merely uploaders with no understanding of what makes good writing, let alone good fiction, and no amount of editing will help. What these people need is a competent ghostwriter.

Anyway, back to the topic of Amazon reviewing. At best, reading How To Get Good Reviews on Amazon will help you gain a respectable number of honest reviews. At worst, you will learn how to avoid ruining your writing career before it’s even begun.

Dead Man’s Journey by Phillip Cook

Aaron decides to investigate when father goes missing during his daily run and is found, dead, twenty kilometres away from home—and missing a finger. The investigation leads him to suspect a link between his father’s death and the mysterious ‘vanishings’ of homeless men in Brisbane.

His investigation also leads him back to Mackenzie, his childhood best friend and the girl he left behind. He knows what Mackenzie believes about what happens when we die. She’s a Christian. He isn’t. But when Mackenzie vanishes, Aaron finds himself re-evaluating his beliefs about life and death, angels and demons—and God.

The story is a Christian thriller with a speculative/science fiction backdrop and a hint of romance. It is set in and around Brisbane, Australia, in the near future, has a well-constructed plot and a host of interesting characters (I particularly liked the group of homeless men for their humour). It’s an exciting story that kept me thinking ‘what’s going to happen next?’, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Dead Man’s Journey is Phillip Cook’s debut novel, and I will look forward to reading more of his work (and not just because I edited this. I really enjoyed it). Recommended for those who like Christian Speculative fiction by authors such as Frank Peretti, and for anyone who wants to support Australasian authors.

Truly Free by Carol Preston

Truly Free is the fourth and final book in the Turning the Tide series, in which Carol Preston writes fictional accounts based on her own family history (which explains some of the odd character names!). The story has been researched extensively, and that gives it  a sense of time and place that isn’t always present in historical fiction.

Bill has been found dead in mysterious circumstances, and granddaughter Betsy wants answers. In conjunction with her aunt Beth, Betsy finds there is a mystery to be solved, misunderstandings to clear up and major secrets to be revealed before everyone can truly be free.

The underlying theme of the story is freedom in Christ, and Betsy and her father, Nipper, are  the two most important characters in understanding this: Betsy, because she has  to forgive her father; and Nipper, because he has to understand the nature of
God in order to forgive himself and Betsy.

The Greenfield Legacy by Rose Dee, Amanda Deed, Meredith Resce and Paula Vince

Mattie’s life changed when her fiancé didn’t come back from Vietnam. She was forced to give up their baby daughter for adoption, and has never forgotten that despite her marriage to (and divorce from) Doug, the birth of her second daughter, Connie, and her successful management of the family vineyard, the Greenfield Estate. But now she has been contacted by the daughter she gave up.

Connie has always resented her mother for breaking up their family, but neither her husband, Dennis, nor her daughter, Brooke, understand her drive to succeed. When her mother calls and asks her to visit, she resists but goes at the insistence of Dennis and Brooke. But when Connie arrives, she finds more than she expected.

Brooke is currently studying fashion design, and it looks like this will be the fourth course she drops out of. She jumps at the chance to visit Grandma Mattie and the Greenfield Estate—and to reconnect with Aiden, the boy she left behind. But will their history be too much to get over?
Navy is Annette’s daughter, but hasn’t seen her mother since she abandoned their family years ago. Now Annette is ill and has asked to see Navy again, to reconnect with her daughter. When Navy arrives, she meets the grandmother she never knew she had—and a new aunt and cousin who are not pleased to meet her.

Four women, with four very different backgrounds, all related in some way to Annette, and all struggling to understand what those relationships mean. Will they be able to move past their issues to restore broken relationships and find love? The Greenfield Legacy is a fascinating mix of relationships and romance, with an underlying Christian message, and its’ share of humour.

At first I thought The Greenfield Legacy was going to be a four-in-one novella collection, but it isn’t. It’s a single novel, with each of the four points of view written by a well-known Australian Christian fiction author. I have to really congratulate them on how well the stories fit together – I was able to pick who wrote which bit (will you?), but if I hadn’t known, I would have thought it was all written by one person.

A New Resolution by Rose Dee

Anika Demeur has always been determined to escape the curse of teenage pregnancy and solo parenthood, but still finds she is repeating her mother’s mistakes. Together with her son, Kye, she accepts a job on Resolution Island on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Life is good, until a letter—and the arrival of a rich Texan—threaten everything.

Nate is on a mission to fulfill his mother’s last wish. But he didn’t anticipate that keeping this promise would mean getting involved in illegal fishing, a murder—and an unexpected attraction to an exasperating woman who doesn’t want anything to do with him.

Now, there is a small chance I’m biased here (because I worked with Rose Dee on the editing), but I really enjoyed A New Resolution.  The characters are strong, the plot interesting, and I especially like the way the Christian elements were integrated into the story, in a way that felt quite realistic, without preaching or moralising.

I also enjoyed the developing relationship between Ani and Nate, the way the attraction was developed into a friendly relationship before either of them acknowledged that there might be something more than mere attraction. And the first kiss was great.

Australian Christian fiction isn’t perhaps as polished as the American novels coming out of the major Christian publishing houses, but this (at least to me) seems more real. In real life, things aren’t always perfect and people are a little rough around the edges, and A New Resolution reflects the Australian spirit well. It is an enjoyable and original novel, with a unique and beautiful setting.

A New Resolution is the final book in the Resolution trilogy, following Back to Resolution and Beyond Resolution. However, it can easily be read as a stand-alone novel. Recommended.

Tangled Secrets by Carol Preston

Beth’s father was transported to Australia when she was just a small child, and now she is eighteen, he has sent for her and her two younger brothers to join him in his new home. Beth has hopes that they will be able to live together as a family, but this is not to be, and she instead marries William, a strange man who has some deep problems of his own. Estranged from her family by distance and secrets, she has to learn to fend for herself in this strange and harsh new land.

This is the third book in the series that began with Mary’s Guardian and Charlotte’s Angel. The stories are fictionalised accounts of real historical people and events, a result of Carol Preston’s personal family history research (which explains why so many of the characters are confusingly called Elizabeth or William). Although there are a number of characters from the earlier books, this story can easily be read as a stand-alone novel. It gives an excellent depiction of the struggles of the early Australian immigrants, especially the ex-convicts, and has a strong Christian message about the ways family secrets and lies can affect us.

Writing to a Post-Christian World by Ann Tatlock

There are a lot of views around what is or is not ‘Christian fiction’. The only consistent definition is that Christian fiction ‘promotes a Christian world view’. If you have ever wondered exactly what that statement means, Ann Tatlock answers the question in this book.

I have to admit that I find Ann Tatlock’s fiction a bit hard going. She doesn’t do frothy romance or spine-chilling thrillers or romantic suspense that is a combination of the two. She writes fiction that makes you think – think about God, yourself and how the two relate. She brings this same style into the non-fiction realm, but I find it easier to deal with here, because this is what I am expecting. And this book is certainly worth reading.

It is not a long book, but it has an important theme. It explains both what postmodernism is and why it is vital that Christian authors should not follow the literary trend towards postmodernism.

What is postmodernism? What does it mean that we’re living in a postmodern culture? In simplest terms, it means we no longer believe in absolutes. There’s no such thing as absolute truth. Everything is relative…In postmodern literature, the author isn’t saying anything. More accurately, the author can’t say anything… You, the reader, have to decide what the text is saying to you.

Based on this book I would say that if you are a Christian, your writing should proclaim a Christian world view whether you are writing for the Christian (CBA) market or the general (ABA) market. If it does not, then you are deceiving your readers and possibly yourself.  C S Lewis credits Phantastes by George MaDonald as opening his eyes to the possibility of holiness. American atheist William Murray credits Taylor Caldwell and her Dear and Glorious Physician. Fiction can change lives, so never be ashamed of writing it. You have no idea what seed you may be sowing, watering or reaping.